Adventures in Babysitting
by Niamh98
Summary: When the Stolls prank the Hecate cabin, they decide to get even. the furious children of Hecate decide that the perfect revenge for Travis and Connor is to turn them into children, since they act like them anyway. Unfortunately the Stolls archenemy Katie Gardner is forced to look after them until they get back to the right age. TRATIE.
1. Katie, I shrunk the Stolls!

**A/N: Hi guysss! So this story sort of just popped into my head and I just had to write it, anyway who doesn't love a good Tratie, right?;) Oh, and it was really late when I wrote this, so that's my excuse if it's terrible! Anyway, enjoy!**

**Prologue**

Rita Marigold daughter of Hecate had been having a nice pleasant lie in that morning, but that never could last long at camp half-blood. She woke to her sisters screams. She sat up groggily and stumbled out of bed, palms outstretched to curse any intruders. Natasha stormed out of the bathroom, her face flushed with rage. She let her hands drop to her sides and for a moment she just stared at her sister, she had two large black circles drawn around her eyes, glasses she thought, and a jagged red lightening bolt drawn on her forehead. Rita laughed, "Oh my Gods, what happened to you?"

Natasha glared at her, "think it's funny, huh?" she asked, shoving a mirror into Rita's face. Rita cursed obscenely, the same doodles were scribbled on her own face.

"HOW THE HADES DID THIS HAPPENED!?" She shrieked.

"Someone, snuck into the cabin while we were all asleep and drew this on everyone's faces!" Natasha fumed, "the others are all in the bathroom trying to wash it off, but it doesn't work it's special permanent marker, it could be weeks before it goes!"

Rita could feel herself shaking with fury, "you know who is responsible for this right?" She hissed, "The Stolls!"

"You're the head counsellor Rita you have to do something!" She yelled, "They have disrespected our cabin and our mother. Someone needs to teach them a lesson!"

"Oh, don't worry, they'll get what's coming to them!"

Rita had been wracking her brain all day to try and think of a way to get back at the Stolls. As she sat eating at the Hecate table with her siblings, the other campers sniggering at the 'artwork' on their faces and the Stolls giving them smug looks, she had an epiphany. As soon as she had eaten she went straight to the forest and made herself a rainbow. She felt good about this, it was a good plan. Rita tossed a drachma into the rainbow and said "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering, show me my mother, Hecate goddess of magic."

She waited a moment and then her mother's image shimmered in the mist in front of her. Hecate looked sort of like a psychic or a fortune teller, she was a large woman, with large circular glasses and dark curly hair tucked under a scarf, "Mother?" Rita called.

"Rita, my daughter, what is the matter? What is on your face?" Hecate asked, curiously.

"It's the Stolls, those ignorant, immature sons of Hermes!" She ranted, "They broke into our cabin and drew Harry Potter glasses and scars on our faces in permanent marker!"

The goddess frowned, "Who is 'Harry Potter?'"

Rita sighed impatiently, "It doesn't matter, he's a wizard-"

"One of my children?" Hecate asked, confused.

"What? No, he's not real mother," Rita explained.

"You're not making any sense Rita!"

"Look, the point is the Stoll's disrespected you, they mocked your powers," She told her.

The Goddess' eyes flashed angrily, "Disrespected me?" She repeated coldly.

"Yes Mother," Rita said eagerly, "They must be punished!"

Hecate frowned, "well you know I can't interfere directly, but I can show you a spell that would really teach them a lesson!"

**Chapter 1**

Travis sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes sleepily. That was weird, usually when he sat up in his bed his head hit the ceiling. He shrugged slightly and started to climb down the rungs of the ladder; he had the top bunk. Travis frowned, he didn't remember the ladder being this far off the ground. Once he landed safely on the floor, he crept through the bombsite that was the Hermes cabin, trying his hardest to be quiet since his siblings were still asleep. He pushed open the bathroom door and reached for his toothbrush, he looked up in at the mirror, but he couldn't see himself. Travis stared for a moment and then screamed. The reason he couldn't see his reflection was because he wasn't tall enough. He looked down at his body, which last time he checked had stretched to over 6 foot, but it was like he had shrunk in the wash, his t-shirt was like a dress, he was the size of a four year old now.

Travis ran out of the bathroom on stubby little legs. His scream seemed to have woken his siblings, but they hadn't come to check on him, they were too busy crowding around something. He pushed through the sea of legs and came face to face with his younger brother Connor. He was sitting on the floor balling, his big blue eyes brimmed with tears, except it wasn't the Connor he knew, it was the Connor he remembered from a very long time ago. His brother moved his chubby hands away from his face and for a moment they just stared at each other; Connor had turned into a toddler overnight. Travis realised that the reason he was the size of a four year old was because he _was_ a four year old.

"Oh my Gods!" Travis squeaked and then his hand flew to his throat, his voice was high like a girls. The other campers seemed to unfreeze, most of them just burst out laughing, but Travis was not amused. "Go get Chiron!" He piped, nobody moved, "now!" One of the girls nodded and ran off to find the centaur.

Waking up and discovering you had turned into a nursery child, had not been a great morning, but it was about to get a lot worse. There was an angry banging on the door, "You think it's funny to put golden syrup in somebody's shoes!?" Katie Gardner's voice yelled through the door, "You are dead Stoll!"

_Oh my Gods. It's ok Travis, _he told himself,_ she can't hurt you, you're just a little kid now. _The door flew open and the daughter of Demeter barged inside the cabin angrily waving a pair of extremely sticky converse in her fist. "Where are they?" She demanded. The crowd of still hysterical Hermes kids parted to reveal the two toddlers in the centre of the cabin, one of them sat on the floor crying, the other standing there fuming. Katie stared at them for a minute and then dropped the ruined shoes, which hit the floor with a _thud._ "Gods of Olympus!" She breathed, walking over to Travis, who's chin barely reached her hip. She bent down to look at his face, which irritated Travis immensely since just yesterday he had towered over her. "Stoll?" She asked in disbelief. Travis glared at her, which must have been enough of an answer for her because she suddenly burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Travis complained, in his stupid little girl voice.

Katie wiped a tear from her eye and caught her breath, "but you're so cute," she giggled, "you both are, look at those chubby little cheeks!" She said pinching his cheeks.

"Stop it!" He complained, his bottom lip quivering, "Did you have something to do with this?"

Katie was laughing so hard she was doubled over, "no, but I wish I had, whoever did this is a fricking genius!" She smirked, "this my friend, is karma!"

For some reason Travis was over come with the urge to pull her hair and he figured he had nothing else to lose, so he grabbed onto her ponytail and pulled it like a bell. "Ow!" Katie shrieked, "Stop it! Let go! Don't make me put you on the naughty step young man!" He was going to make her pay for that remark, but Chiron appeared in the door.

"Oh dear," he muttered, although he looked like he was trying not to laugh, "This is terrible."

Connor looked up, his little face wet with tears, "turn us back!" He pleaded.

Chiron frowned, "I don't know how," he said sheepishly, "but don't worry I assure you we will find out who did this and get them to turn you back to normal," he promised.

He looked back at the brothers, "but until then, I wouldn't really feel comfortable leaving you two unsupervised, you would need a babysitter."

"A babysitter!" Travis squeaked indignantly, "I'm 17!"

Chiron ignored him and looked at Katie, "Katie perhaps you could..."

The smile drained from Katie's face, "No."

Chiron looked desperate, "Please Katie," he begged.

Katie crossed her arms, "but Chiron!" She protested.

"It will only be for a few days I promise you!" Katie still looked unconvinced, "I'll get you anything you want for your garden," he bribed her.

"Fine!" She huffed.

Chiron gave her a grateful look and galloped back to the big house, "Katie the children will need to stay in your cabin for now and..." he glanced back, "try not to kill each other."

The cabin was almost empty now, his siblings had probably gone to tell the other cabins and soon everyone would know that the mighty Stolls had been turned into snivelling babies. There was only one positive Travis could take from this and that was that Katie was their babysitter, which gave him the perfect opportunity to make her life worse than the fields of punishment.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Really hope you liked it and I promise more Tratie to come!**

**Oh and remember to REVIEW because I love reviews more than Aphrodite loves love!**


	2. Don't mess with the Hecate cabin!

**A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews, you're all amazing, keep it up! And OH MY GODS A MOMENT TO FANGIRL AMOUNT THE MARK OF ATHENA PLEASE! I just finished reading it (I'm a slow reader) but aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh the ending killed me, I was actually in tears. Ok, I'm done. On with the story, enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

_**Katie POV**_

Katie pulled little Connor's shoulders and tried to drag him to his feet, unfortunately he made his body go limp and suddenly he was a dead weight, way heavier than someone that small should be. He lay on the ground balling as Katie tried to lift him up, Travis watched this with an amused smile and Katie reminded herself that even though he looked like an adorable little kid now, he was still the same moron that had been ruining her life since she was twelve years old. Admittedly Katie had found the whole situation pretty funny at first; hilarious actually, until Chiron decided that she would be the one to look after them. Looking after two screaming little brats who also happened to be her arch-enemies? Not fun. She was determined to get this over with as soon as possible and there was only one way to do that; she had to find out how this had happened to them and get them back to normal. And who knows maybe if she helped them out with this, they would be so grateful that they'd never prank her again. _Yeah right, _Katie thought, _in your dreams._

She crouched down and looked them both in the eyes, "Ok, now if we're going to get you back to being the same immature, inconsiderate, brain-dead, evil, stupid ..."

"Um, Katie?" Travis said, clicking his chubby little fingers in front of her face, "the point?"

Katie blinked, she got a little carried away there, "right, so we need to figure out who did this to you," she told them, "so who have you pissed off lately?"

Travis frowned, "well there was the Apollo cabin and the Aphrodite cabin," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Oh and there might have been a few spiders in the Athena cabin..." he added sheepishly.

"Don't forget the Hephaestus cabin," Connor squeaked.

Travis nodded, "right so Apollo, Aphrodite, Athena, Hephaestus," he counted on his fingers as he spoke, which made him look even younger, "oh and we might have done something to the Hecate cabin too." His voice was so high and sweet that Katie found it almost impossible to take him seriously, but she tried her hardest to keep a straight face.

She looked at them expectantly for a moment, waiting for it to click, she knew that they weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the gardening box, but she thought that this had to be obvious even to them. After a pause, there was still no eureka moment from the worlds dimmest demigods, so Katie sighed, "Gee, I wonder which one of them could have _magically_ turned you two idiots into children," she said in exasperation. The mini-Stolls stared at her blankly and she sighed, "Gods, It was the Hecate cabin, ok?"

The brothers immediately turned to each other and started plotting their revenge. There was a small guilty part of her that thought it might be nice to be on the other end of a prank for once, but after she caught the words, 'firecrackers,' 'rats' and 'sewage' she decided she should put a stop to the plan, maybe since they were kids again she could teach them right from wrong.

"And how exactly would pranking them help us find out how to turn you back?" Katie asked, she caught herself when she realised she was using the same voice she used to scold her younger siblings and sometimes to talk to pets. The Stolls both stared at her blankly like she had just spoken mandarin, their blue eyes wide and innocent, or at least as innocent as the Stolls could ever get.

"You're saying _not to prank them?_" Connor asked incredulously.

Katie smiled slightly, "yes," she said gently, she knew that this must be a completely foreign concept to them, "I think we should try and talk to them."

"Talk?" Travis repeated sceptically, Katie tried hard not to smile as she noticed the way he winced every time he spoke; clearly he wasn't happy with his new voice.

"Yes, talk," she said firmly, "come on, we'll go over there now."

The brothers exchanged a cautious glance and then Connor grabbed Katie's hand, his little fingers somehow already grubby, she was a little surprised but she didn't really mind, she had never hated him as much as Travis, and it was hard not to find him a cutie right now. Travis followed his brother's example and took her other hand, this shocked her even more; under normal circumstances she would have done one of two things: punched him or kissed him. She tried to tell herself that it would have been the former, but she wasn't sure, her feelings for Travis had always been a little... well confusing.

Katie led the Stolls across the pavilion towards the Hecate cabin. They were unusually quiet as they walked, which was really strange considering she had spent the last five years trying to shut them up, but she guessed they were a little shaken up. Connor looked on the verge of tears again and she squeezed his hand reassuringly. She glanced down at Travis, he really just looked like a shorter version of himself, his thick brown hair still hung messily in front of his dark blue eyes and the constant mischievous glint in his eyes hadn't changed, the one that had never failed to both infuriate her and make her heart flutter at the same time. She grudgingly had to admit, that she understood why all the Aphrodite girls whispered about him, he was tall, or at least he had been, he was funny, when it wasn't at her expense at least, and he'd do anything for his little brother, Katie liked that, and well... he had nice eyes. Not that she liked him, not at all. _Oh my Gods Katie,_ she thought horrified, _you cannot find a 4 year old attractive, stop it! It's sick!_

Katie took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the Hecate cabin. She heard some scuffling from inside and then the door flew open with such force that the hinges screeched in protest. There was nobody standing inside the doorway, but the door couldn't have opened by itself. Connor moved and hid behind her legs murmuring, _"It's a ghost Katie! Kill it! Kill it!"_ She stepped forward and peered around the door, of course she knew that it wasn't a ghost, she was no child of Athena, but she figured some Hecate kid must have mojo'd the door open. Suddenly Rita Marigold appeared in front of her; almost head butting Katie, who staggered back startled, Connor still clinging to her legs. Katie noticed that the daughter of Hecate had comical Harry Potter glasses and a scar drawn on her face, so that was why she decided to turn Connor and Travis into toddlers, Katie couldn't really blame her.

"Sorry, I was just-" Katie began.

Rita frowned, "What's up Katie?"

She hesitated, "look Rita, the thing is..."

"Hey! Yeah you, wicked witch, down here!" Travis cried furiously, his arms crossed and his jaw clenched. Rita looked down and her eyes widened. She burst out laughing so hard that she had to grip the door for support, "Oh my Gods!" she spluttered.

"You think this is funny!?" Travis growled, but his voice was so high and sweet that it just made her laugh even harder.

"Oh please stop!" Rita gasped, "You're killing me Stoll!"

Travis looked like grumpy the dwarf, _wait does that make me snow white,_ she wondered_, the flowers in that movie were beautiful. _"KATIE!" Travis yelled, apparently not for the first time, "tell her," he said through gritted teeth, jabbing a small finger at Rita, who was still laughing hysterically, "to turn us back."

Connor peeked out timidly from behind Katie's legs, "Yeah," he piped, "turn us back."

Katie looked at Rita pleadingly, "look Rita, Travis and Connor have both learned a lesson and they really are sorry," she said, she wished she could charmspeak like Piper, life would be so much easier. Rita raised her eyebrows, unconvinced; it made the lightning scar on her forehead wrinkle.

Katie kicked Connor's shin, probably harder than a person should kick a crying four year old, but she'd never been great with kids. He blinked, "Yeah, totally!" He nodded enthusiastically and Katie smiled, she never imagined she would have such a strong urge to hug Connor Stoll.

All three of them turned to Travis, who unfortunately wasn't being as cooperative as his brother. He stuck out his chin stubbornly and shook his head, making his hair fall further in front of his sweet little face. She gave him her best, '_if_ _you do this for me, there's a cookie with your name on it'_ look. After a silent stand off with her Travis finally backed down, "I'm sorry," he mumbled under his breath.

Rita was grinning, "Sorry what was that, Stoll?"

The look In Travis' eyes was murderous, "I'm sorry," he said louder, speaking like each word cut his mouth, although Katie had to stifle a laugh when she heard Travis add in a whisper, "sorry you don't have a sense of humour."

Katie was relieved, maybe she wouldn't have to babysit the idiots for much longer, "so are you going to turn them back now?"

"Oh, I can't turn them back," she said lightly, "but don't worry the spell should wear off... eventually, they should probably age about a year each day."

"What!?" Both brothers squeaked in unison.

Rita smirked, "that ought to teach you not to mess with Hecate!" She said, giving them a rude gesture that Katie really didn't feel was appropriate in front of the children, before slamming the door.

Katie felt her stomach drop in horror. A year a day. That's nearly two weeks until they're back to the right ages. _Two weeks of the Stolls._ Oh My Gods.

**A/N: More Tratie soon I promise, I just need to wait for Travis to get a little older, haha! Hope you liked it, please REVIEW!**

**I LOVE REVIEWS ALMOST AS MUCH AS GROVER LOVES ENCHILADAS!**


	3. I'M SICK!

**A/N: Wow guys, two updates in one week? I am on fire or maybe that just shows that I have no life... Anyway on with the story! **

_**Chapter 3**_

_Travis POV_

_Oh My Gods, I'm going to die, _Travis thought miserably. So this is how it's going to end for the mighty Travis Stoll, Demigod hero, killed by some stupid, common, mortal flu. Holy Hermes, he thought his head was going to explode. "Connor?" He called weakly and cursed internally, like it wasn't humiliating enough having the voice of a four year old, now he could barely even speak, Katie wouldn't be able to keep her hands off him.

"In here," he heard his brother's voice call back through the bathroom door, Gods that didn't sound good.

"You Ok?"Connor didn't reply, but he didn't need to, Travis could hear his brother vomiting through the door. He groaned, maybe if he just closed his eyes it wouldn't be so bad.

He heard the door to the cabin click open and he wearily opened one eye. Katie looked fantastic, as always, she was wearing a plain green t-shirt and her brown hair was pulled up into a long ponytail, she even looked great covered in bugs, Travis had learned. "Katie I'm dying," he moaned pitifully.

She didn't even look at him, "don't get my hopes up Stoll."

"That's mean!" Travis complained, "How can you be mean to me when I'm dying?"

Katie glanced up and walked over to the bed, he guessed he must have looked pretty bad because she immediately burst out laughing.

"Katie!" He whined.

She pressed her lips together and he could see she was trying hard not to laugh. She placed her hand across his forehead and frowned, "You're not dying Travis." She said frankly, "you do have a fever though."

Travis grimaced, he didn't see any sympathy in her face and he would probably have been disappointed if he had. His head throbbed and his stomach churned, the one person he had to look after him on his death bed was the on person who hated him the most, great.

She seemed to notice his horrified expression because she laughed and said, "Calm down Stoll, you'll live," Travis didn't think so. "Kids get sick all the time." Travis winced at that, sure he might look like a sweet innocent little five year old, but inside he was still the same awesome bad-ass, that reduced Clarisse La Rou to tears, of course she denies that, but it's true, he swore on the Styx, but nobody seemed to believe him.

"Where's Connor?" She asked. Travis pointed feebly at the bathroom. Katie glanced over; his poor brother could still clearly be heard puking his little guts up. Apparently Katie didn't feel like holding his hair back for him, she looked at the door and wrinkled her nose in disgust, she looked back at Travis. "Um, I'll just go and err... get you an Apollo camper or something," she said, before making a dash for the door.

Travis grabbed her wrist before she could get away, which was so much effort it made him want to collapse back onto the bed and pull the covers over his head. "No, Katie please, don't involve more people in this, it's humiliating enough already."

She looked pointedly at his chubby little fingers on her arm and back up at him, "unless you want to lose that hand I suggest you take it back."

He dropped his hand immediately, there weren't many things that scared Travis, but Katie Gardner was definitely one of them. Connor staggered out of the bathroom, he didn't look so good. His skin was ghostly pale and he had dark rings beneath his eyes. Travis figured that even Katie, who wasn't exactly known for her compassion, couldn't help but pity him. "I'm sick," he announced miserably. Katie hesitated for a second and then guided Connor over to his bunk. She tucked him in and sat down beside him. Travis couldn't help but feel jealous, why wouldn't she take care of him like that? He knew that she didn't hate them both equally, but he didn't understand why, Connor pranked her just as much as he did. Travis had come to terms with the fact that he might just have a tiny little crush on Katie a long time ago, unfortunately he figured her seeing him as a sick and needy little kid wasn't really helping his chances. He watched enviously as she smoothed Connors hair back from his face. "Try and get some sleep Stoll," she whispered.

A few minutes' later Connors sweet little snores filled the cabin and Katie got up and stood next to Travis' bunk. "So Katie-Kat," he croaked, "going to read me a story?"

Katie snorted, "Shut it Stoll!" She buried her face in her hands for a second and then peeked out from behind her fingers, "If I tell you a secret, will you swear not to tell?"

Travis smirked, "Katie, I already know that you have a crush on me."

She hit him for that, but he didn't care, it was worth it just to watch her blush. "Ow!" He complained, "Gods Katie, hitting sick children now?"

She glared at him and crossed her arms, turning away. Somehow Travis found the energy to lift his tiny little body and sit up slightly, "Aw, come on Katie!" He said, "I won't tell anyone, I swear on the Styx."

Reluctantly Katie turned back to him, "Ok fine," she took a deep breath, "I am terrible with kids," she confessed. Travis immediately burst out laughing, unfortunately it quickly turned to violent coughing. "It's not funny!" She protested, "Travis, I am impatient and bossy, I have no idea how to look after a child and I'm, well I'm not really very nice."

Once he was able to breathe again, Travis grinned at her.

"What?" She demanded, "What are you laughing at?"

"Seems like you did a pretty good job with Connor," he remarked.

She frowned, "I guess..."

"Although I have to say, I'm feeling a little neglected," he added.

She smiled, "Aww, Travvy, do you need some attention?" She used that stupid baby voice with him, but it was ok he knew how to get his revenge.

"Yes, but you know how you can make it up to me?" She arched an eyebrow and he smiled wickedly, "sing for me Katie-Kat."

She blinked, "what?"

"You heard me, sing," he ordered.

She shook her head in disbelief, "I'm not going to sing for you Stoll, maybe I could get an Apollo camper or..."

He gave her his biggest puppy dog eyes, which he knew must have looked pretty adorable with this baby face, "pwease Katie-Kat?"

She sighed and sat down on the bed beside him. Travis smiled to himself; he couldn't believe it, Katie Gardner was in his bed, admittedly when he had pictured this moment he wasn't five years old and most likely covered in snot, but still.

Travis made a 'go on' motion with his hand and she glared at him, but started to sing anyway. "Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, little ball of fur," Travis smiled, she actually had a pretty nice voice, he was getting kind of tired though, maybe if he just closed his eyes for a minute...

"Happy Kitty, Sleepy Kitty, purr...purr...purr." Travis felt himself drift out of consciousness and he wasn't sure if he dreamt it or not, but he thought that he felt Katie lightly kiss his forehead.

**A/N: Quite a fluffy chapter, but who doesn't love a bit of Tratie? Anyway thanks for reading, I hope you liked it, please leave a REVIEW!**

**I LOVE REVIEWS ALMOST AS MUCH AS TYSON LOVES PEANUT BUTTER!**


	4. Capture the flag?

**A/N: Yay, we got to the 50 review mark! Did I mention how much I love you all? Well I do. So yeah, here's the shiny new chapter, enjoy!**

_**Chapter 4**_

Katie had decided that she was never having kids, ever. For two days, that's 48 hours of her life, she had been a cleaner, a nurse, a mother and a fricking puke scrubber. They recovered from their 'disease' as Travis kept referring to it, after about two days, thank the Gods. She just hated sick people... and children... and the Stolls... Anyway basically she had endured two days of hell worse than the underworld and then she had missed the first daffodils of the year stuck in that stuffy cabin, which honestly smelled worse than the manure her cabin spread in the gardens! But it was ok because she was going to get her payback. See she was just on her way back from the big house where she and Chiron had been discussing their current um... 'Situation' and since the Stolls were about seven now, Chiron had decided that they were old enough to join in capture the flag. Katie was on her way to deliver the news with barely contained glee; it was going to be brilliant. And anyway, she kind of wanted to prove to the Stolls, especially Travis, that she was not going soft, that she still hated them, even if she had shown them a little kindness the last couple of days. Because she did still hate them, definitely, 100%. Katie didn't even want to think about the incident with Travis, she kept on asking herself what in Zeus' name had possessed her to sing soft kitty to him, but she couldn't seem to come up with a decent excuse. She had just been watching the big bang theory that night and it was just the only song she could think of, after all she was no daughter of Apollo and she wasn't exactly musically gifted. But that wasn't even the worst part, when she finished singing she had done something that she simply couldn't explain. She had kissed him. Him being _the Travis Stoll_, this was completely mental, she hated him, or so she tried to tell herself. She shuddered; she could just imagine what her mother would say. Just thinking about it made her cheeks burn, why had she done that? She told herself that it was just because he looked really cute, all small and sleepy, but it wasn't that, she knew that she would have done the same thing if he had been 7 or 17, it was just Travis, he had that effect on her and she hated him for it.

She hesitated and waited outside the Hermes cabin for a moment. _Ok Katie,_ she told herself, _time to show them that you're still the same bitch who broke Travis' nose when you where 14._

"Rise and shine, kids!" She called as she stepped inside. Connor groaned and across the room Travis didn't stir, his snores echoing through the cabin, _Gods he sleeps like he's dead,_ Katie thought.

"Gods of Olympus, its 11am already, I thought kids were meant to get up early!" She complained loudly. She walked over to Connors bunk, he was completely still and silent and she'd spent enough years as head counsellor of her cabin to know when kids were faking sleep, she sort of had a reputation as an early riser and her siblings did what they could to avoid being woken up. Katie grinned to herself and sat down on the bed, she tickled Connor and his eyes flew open, he screamed and squirmed until she let him go, "UP UP UP!" She yelled, laughing. She strode over to Travis' bunk, he was still sound asleep which seemed pretty impressive considering Connor was still screaming and giggling to himself. She smirked, this was the perfect opportunity to get him back for all the pranks he had pulled on her over the years, she could do anything she wanted to him; he was completely vulnerable. But she didn't instead she just poked him in the ribs, hard. He rubbed his eyes and sat up slowly glaring at her, "Gods Katie, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Time for capture the flag," she beamed.

They both just stared at her, "What?"

"Capture the flag," she repeated, "go get ready."

"But we can't play capture the flag," Travis protested, "we're too small, we'll get crushed!"

"We can't even lift a sword!" Connor agreed.

Katie smirked, "don't be such babies!" Gods that was a poor choice of words, "What are you afraid?"

Travis glared at her, "Stolls aren't afraid of anything," he said indignantly.

"Good, you have nothing to worry about then."

Katie watched with an amused smile as the mini-Stolls struggled to strap on their armour, Connor staggering around under the weight of his breastplate. The other campers stared and snickered and from the look on Travis' face he was mentally making a 'who to prank when I'm grown up again' list. Eventually she decided that they had suffered enough and strode over to give them a hand. It took a lot of work and a lot of patience, something Katie didn't have much of, which then led to a lot of, unusually high-pitched, bickering, but eventually she managed to secure their armour. She stepped back to inspect the job and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing, they were struggling under an array of different sized armour, with swords that seemed to drag them toward the ground and helmets that fell in front of their eyes, their faces both tight with strain from the weight of the metal. They looked slightly older than they had a few days ago, a bit taller and a little less chubby, but nonetheless still _very _young. She wondered what would happen when they got back to normal, would things go back to how they used to be? Would they carry on pranking her relentlessly?

Katie felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Annabeth standing beside her, her grey eyes alight with the fierce competitive spirit that all children of Athena possess. Annabeth glanced cautiously at the boys, who had now thrown down their swords and started having a thumb war, "Katie, can I talk to you?" She asked.

"Sure," Katie replied, taking a few steps back until they were out of earshot. Along with the Hermes cabin, Demeter and Athena had made a temporary alliance, it was unusual, but they needed Athena's skills and strategy, lets just say, it had taken a lot of free strawberries to get them to agree. She could tell from the wild excitement in Annabeth's eyes that she was up to something, "you have a plan?" Katie guessed.

Annabeth nodded eagerly, "of course, Athena always has a plan," she said firmly, "but I just wanted to run it past you."

Katie frowned, "Ok, go ahead."

She leaned forward conspiratorially, "it involves the Stolls..."

_**Travis POV **_

Travis glanced at Katie as they marched into the forest, she walked ahead looking distracted, twisting her hands together nervously. Travis struggled to try and keep up with her, his stupid little legs refusing to carry him fast enough. "You ok Katie-Kat?" He squeaked, he figured his voice should break in a few days and he could stop sounding like a little girl, thank the Gods. Katie didn't answer him; she was still staring off into space, "Katie?" He repeated, snapping his fingers in front of her face, which didn't really work out since he couldn't reach her face.

She glanced down at him, "hmmm, what?"

Travis raised his eyebrows, "doesn't matter," he said, "so what do you want us to do?"

"You're on border patrol," she replied, chewing on her thumbnail.

Travis raised his hand in a mock salute, "Yes ma'am." He dragged his brother off towards the creek where their flag was hidden, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, they just had to stand and wait for the others to come back. He watched Katie, Annabeth and the rest of the red team disappear into the trees. His sword was making his arms ache, it never used to be this heavy, so he propped it up against a branch and sat down. Connor was tapping his fingers along his armour making little _ping_ noises, "do you have to do that?" Travis asked irritably.

Connor glanced up and gave him a wicked grin, "hey, no need to get all cranky Travis, it's not my fault you're not getting anywhere with Katie." That comment earned Connor a hard smack to the back of his head, which knocked off his helmet. "Hey!" He protested.

Travis opened his mouth, prepared to give his younger brother some merciless teasing, but he stopped short when he heard some rustling in the bushes across the trees, "you hear that?" He asked his brother.

Connor frowned, "hear what-" he trailed off, his question hanging in mid-air as we watched Clarisse and three other Ares campers emerge from the trees.

"Uh-Oh," Connor muttered.

Oh Gods, Clarisse had always been huge, but now being so tiny, she somehow seemed even bigger.

"Well, well, well," Clarisse sneered, "look who it is- the baby Stolls!" This earned a few sniggers and piggy snorts from her gang of thugs. Travis cursed silently as he realised that his sword was still laid on the ground a few feet away from him.

"Hey, remember when you painted our entire cabin _pink?" _She said the word like it was the worst thing she could possibly think of.

"But Clarisse I thought pink was your colour, it really brings out your eyes," he smirked, edging slowly towards his sword.

"Shut it Stoll," she growled, "I've wanted to get you back for weeks and now that you're both fun-sized it will be even easier than usual to beat the crap out of you."

Travis glanced at Connor, trying to communicate his plan with him telepathically; they had been in this situation enough times for him to know the emergency plan, course they might have to make a few changes to accommodate they're size, he hoped Connor understood. "Well, as tempting as that sounds I think we'll have to pass," Travis told them, trying to keep calm.

Clarisse and her siblings suddenly charged at them and Travis put his plan into action. Thank the Gods it seemed Connor had got the idea, as he suddenly dived at Clarisse's legs, wrapping his body around her shins. Clarisse screamed in rage and tried to kick him off, but he held on tight. Travis unfroze and jumped, propelling himself up off of his brothers back, landing on Clarisse's shoulders, he quickly clamped his hands over her eyes and held on for dear life. Clarisse bellowed in disbelief and fury, staggering around the clearing, trying desperately to throw them off. The other Ares campers just stood there staring with their mouths agape, too stunned to help their sister or even grab the flag, apparently this wasn't something you saw everyday. Eventually Clarisse lost her balance, unable to see or move her legs properly, and all three of them toppled into the lake. Travis suddenly wished he was like Percy and he could breathe underwater and always stay dry. Unfortunately he was not like Percy. He scrambled out of the lake, dragging Connor with him, trying to get as far as possible from Clarisse, who was drenched and looked murderous. Clarisse climbed out of the lake and her siblings seemed to unfreeze, as they all surrounded the brothers. Travis gulped, he'd had a good life, so he was going to die, maybe it wouldn't be so bad and Gods knows he definitely deserved Elysium for this.

"No maiming," Connor croaked, he was just helpful like that. Suddenly Travis saw a flash of green in the trees and Katie and Annabeth tore past each carrying a side of the enemy flag. Clarisse looked up and her eyes widened, she seemed to forget all about them, thankfully. "This was a set up!" She screamed, storming over to where Katie and Annabeth were celebrating with the rest of the team. Suddenly the whole forest erupted into chaos, Annabeth and Clarisse started yelling at each other and sword fights broke out amongst the cabins. Out of the corner of his eye Travis saw Connor scramble to his feet and make a break for it while Clarisse and her gang of sadists were distracted, but Travis didn't move, he met Katie's eyes across the creek. He understood her plan perfectly, he and Connor had a lot of enemies from their pranks and Katie had figured that they would love to take advantage of the brothers while they were weak and get revenge, leaving their flag unguarded. They had been bait. Travis wasn't mad, he was actually sort of impressed, it was such an un-Katie like thing to do, she was always so good, now he understood what people meant when they said he was a bad influence.

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading, I hope you liked it! Leave a REVIEW, pretty please with a Travis on top?**

**Remember I love reviews more than Zeus loves his masterbolt.**


	5. Step up stools are dangerous!

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long, I've been really busy with school and stuff, but better late than never right? Anyway thank you all so much for the reviews, you're all brilliant!**

**Disclaimer: Pretty sure that Rick Riordan isn't a 14 year old girl, so no, I'm not him.**

_**Chapter 5**_

Travis was bored. Usually when Travis was bored he would pull one of his famously awesome pranks on another camper *cough Katie cough* or if he was really bored they would um... 'borrow' something from someone else. Anyway, in his current condition Travis couldn't do any of the things he loved, well except fantasizing about the Hecate cabin in the fields of punishment, when he was back to his awesome 17 year old self he swore to Hermes he would make them pay, Stoll-style. Seriously, he was not a child of Nemesis but this revenge was going to be sweet, he decided that it would be a prank so evil and so brilliant that future children of Hermes would tell stories about it hundreds of years from now. Fortunately, Travis was still able to do one of his favourite hobbies: torturing Katie Gardner. He decided that was the only good thing to come of this, it made poor Katie-Kat's life miserable and it gave him endless amounts of satisfaction to see her constantly fighting the urge to beat the crap out of them, struggling to decide if it was morally acceptable to punch children if they weren't really children, it really was awesome. Katie hadn't mentioned the whole capture the flag incident, she looked almost guilty actually, but Travis understood why she had done it, capture the flag was important to him too, of course he didn't appreciate being used as bait, but even as little kids they could handle the Ares cabin. Still he had a reputation to keep up and he couldn't let everyone else think that they could get away with pulling something like that on the Stolls, but he figured having to look after them was enough of a punishment for Katie.

Travis went into the bathroom and reached for his toothbrush only to discover that one of his siblings, obviously a comical genius, had placed it on top of the medicine cabinet, way out of reach. He cursed, which sounded sort of funny with his cute little voice, and jumped up on his tiptoes, not high enough. He sighed and crossed to the corner of the room, dragging out the little pink step-up stool Katie had given them yesterday, attempting unsuccessfully to suppress her giggles as she did. He had sworn that he would never ever give her the satisfaction of using it, but she wasn't here and the way his breath smelt right now, it was the best thing for everyone. Travis deposited the stool beneath the sink and climbed onto it. He reached up to grab the toothbrush, his fingers, which had started to get slightly less pudgy, edged closer. He just needed to stretch a little further.

Travis heard the door to the cabin click open and froze, "Stoll?" Katie yelled.

And then Travis did something stupid. He panicked. Instead of just neatly hopping of the stool and kicking it back into the corner out of sight, he slipped. He tried to get down too quickly and his foot snagged in the plastic, the fact that his shoes were now about 7 sizes too big probably didn't help either, he stumbled and the stool slid out from underneath him. He clattered to the ground, trying to grab onto the sink for support, bottles of shampoo and toothpaste and pills fell to the floor around him like missiles. Travis tipped his face upwards and watched in horror, as a bottle of bright green mouthwash plummeted from the shelf and sailed through the air towards him. Unfortunately the Hermes cabin never saw the need to put lids on things. The sticky, minty green liquid was everywhere, in his hair, up his nose, in his eyes, which burned like Hades. The bathroom door creaked open and squinting through a painful green haze, Travis could just about make out Katie Gardner frozen in the doorway. His vision cleared and he saw that Katie's expression remained completely blank as her eyes flickered over the destruction, her lips pressed together tightly, "little accident Stoll?" She asked him, the corners of her mouth twitched slightly until she couldn't seem to hold it in any longer and she burst out laughing so hard she had to lean against the door for support.

Travis glared at her, searching the air for comeback or something, anything. But even he had to admit that there wasn't really a way to come back from this, it was a very strange experience for Travis, he wasn't used to being lost for words. Katie took a deep breath and managed to stop laughing, although she couldn't keep the smirk off her face. She shot a sly glance at the door, unfortunately Travis had known Katie for a very long time and he could practically read her mind, "you tell anyone about this Gardner and I swear to the Gods your cabin will be number 1 on my pranking list," he threatened.

Katie snorted, "My cabin has been number 1 on your pranking list for the past 5 years Stoll, I have nothing left to lose; I'll tell everyone."

Travis felt his mouth twist into a smile: that sounded like a challenge, he liked a challenge. "I wouldn't do that if I was you Katie-Kat," he said, slowly rising to his feet, dripping more mouthwash onto the bathroom tiles, "I'd hate to have to shave off all of your pretty hair while you're sleeping, but if that's the way it has to be..."

Katie glared at him, "didn't anyone ever teach you to respect your elders Stoll?" She said lightly, before bolting for the door. Fortunately, Travis was ready. Before Katie could even grab the door handle, Travis had launched himself at her and tackled her to the ground, subsequently covering her in mouth wash and shampoo and a little toothpaste too. Travis began to realize that maybe he hadn't thought this through, although Katie was a girl, she was strong and trained for battle, like all demigods, usually they were pretty well matched when it came to a fight, which actually happened more than you'd hope, but with him being the size of a ten year old, Katie had the edge. After a brief struggle, Katie had managed to pin him down on the ground, holding his arms above his head. She leaned over him; her dark hair had come loose from her ponytail during the fight and hung around her face, sticky from the mouthwash. Travis had been in this situation enough times to know that he had to move fast or Katie would use her stupid daughter of Demeter powers to spring up some roots, wrap them around him and trap him there. He had only one idea that would definitely get her to let him go; either that or it would make her even angrier. It was a risk he was willing to take.

She grinned at him, "So Stoll, how would you like to die?"

Travis smiled and tried to look cute, _stall,_ he told himself. "C'mon Katie-Kat, you wouldn't hurt a little kid, would you."

"No," she agreed, "but you get older everyday and I will get you."

_Ok,_ Travis thought, _now._ He glanced pointedly at the way Katie was sat on top of him and wiggled slightly underneath her. She immediately flushed scarlet and leaped up off of him cursing, like he had burned her. Travis sat up a little and smiled smugly, he knew Katie better than she thought he did. Unfortunately, at that moment they both realized that they weren't alone. Connor was standing in the door, looking like he'd been there a while, staring at them, his mouth agape. Katie turned an even darker shade of red and the look in her eyes was murderous, Travis on the other hand found the whole situation rather amusing, Katie's discomfort was priceless.

"It's not what it looks like!" She blurted out.

Connor just raised his eyebrows and even as a ten year old he had that same irritating look, like he knew everything, his eyes flicked from Katie to Travis and back again and he grinned at his brother, "sure."

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Like it, hate it, REVIEW? **

**Remember I love reviews more than Aphrodite loves mirrors! (I stole that one from Artemis34's review, I thought it was funny, so thanks!)**


	6. HELP ME!

**A/N: Oh My Gods, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in such a long time, I've been really busy and I kept forgetting and urghhh, no excuses I am just terrible. Anyway please don't be afraid to tell me to hurry up if I'm taking ages, I'm such a procrastinator aaahh! Anyway, right, on with the storyyyyy!**

_**Chapter 6**_

_Katie was standing out in the strawberry fields, the sky was an inky blue and the wind was cold, whipping her hair into her face and stinging her eyes. She shivered, feeling goose bumps prickle up along her arms and watching her breath swirl and mix into the air, a pale white mist. It seemed a little weird that she would be standing in a field in the middle of the night wearing her thin green-peace t shirt. She felt a light tap on her shoulder and whipped around, coming face to face with the one person she did not expect to see. "Stoll," she breathed. He was back to his regular age again, a little taller than her, a mop of messy dark hair falling into his clear blue eyes. Travis didn't say anything, he just pressed a palm to her cheek and leaned down, brushing his lips against hers._

Katie woke to the insistent sound of knocking on her door. She sat up in bed and cursed as her head hit the bunk above her. She sat there for a moment, raking a hand through her hair as she thought about her dream, being a demi-god and all she had some pretty weird dreams, but that one was definitely new. The knocking continued, Katie stared into the darkness for a moment, blinking away sleep, she could barely see the outlines of the furniture in the cabin, which meant it was still the middle of the night, she had no idea who would be knocking at this time. "I'm coming!" Katie hissed, she didn't want them to wake the rest of her cabin, she climbed out of bed and fumbled through the darkness, her hands outstretched in front of her, cursing as she bumped into a lamp and stubbed her toe. She felt the wood against her palm and was just able to make out the dull outline of the doorknob. She pushed it open gently, wincing at the squeal of the hinges as it swung outward. Standing outside the Demeter cabin, illuminated by the dull glow of the moon, his hand raised to knock again, was the one person she did not want to see right now.

Travis quirked an eyebrow, "nice pj's Katie-Kat," he remarked.

Katie glanced down and saw that she was wearing flowery shorts and a hello kitty t-shirt, she felt her face heat up. "What in Zeus' name do you want Stoll?" She demanded, "Do you have any idea what time it is? Oh wait, of course you do because you did it on purpose because you are a self-absorbed brat who doesn't care about anything but his stupid little pranks-" She could have kept ranting at him, she was so angry and confused and sleepy and she couldn't seem to stop thinking about her dream, thankfully though he cut her off, but she was still unable to meet his eyes.

"Uh Katie?" Travis interrupted, "as much as I enjoy your rants, and believe me I do, I need a favour."

"Why the Hades would I want to do you a favour?" She whispered furiously, anger swelling up inside of her "Screw you Stoll!"

Travis' smile didn't waver, "I know you want to Katie, but that's not why I'm here."

Katie sighed and felt her shoulders slump, she gave up, it was impossible. He was impossible. "What do you want Stoll?" She grumbled. For once she was glad that Travis didn't have all the plants in his flowerbed, if he had been a little bit brighter he would have realised how weirdly she was acting, he'd probably guess about her dream, she was sure it was written all over her face and then she'd have to move to Africa or something just to escape the humiliation of having a dream about _Travis Stoll_... oh my Gods, _what is wrong with me? _She asked herself desperately.

Travis scratched the back of his neck and gave her a sheepish smile that made him look even younger. In the darkness, it was hard to tell that Travis was only about 12, he looked the same as always, just a few inches shorter, it was his voice that gave him away though, it cracked and squeaked and went up and down like a rollercoaster, Katie guessed it must have been breaking. "Look the thing is..." he trailed off and it was weird, he was always so confident, but now he looked sort of nervous.

"Come on Stoll," Katie sighed impatiently, "spit it out."

Travis dug his hands deeper into his pockets and stared at his shoes, "I... um... I was wondering," he hesitated and when he spoke again the words seemed to tumble out of his mouth in rush, "if maybe you could give me some extra help with my fighting because with the age thing it's sort of hard to balance my sword and everyone else is bigger than me and it's kind of embarrassing."

Katie stared at him for a second in disbelief, "and this couldn't have waited until the morning?"

"Well I didn't want people to see me," he said, like it was obvious and _she_ was the one being slow and unreasonable.

Katie felt a grin spread across her face, "are _you _asking _me_ for help Stoll?"

"I wouldn't say that exactly..."

"But you're admitting that I'm the better fighter, right?" She insisted.

Travis' eyes flashed dangerously, "Dream on Gardner, 12 years old or not, I can still kick your ass."

"Yeah?" Katie smirked, taking a step back into the cabin, "then maybe you'll just have to get someone else to help you, maybe you could ask Clarisse?"

His eyes went wide and the idea seemed to horrify him, "Katie wait!"

She turned to him, a wicked smile on her face, "Yeah?"

Travis gave her what he must have thought was a 'sweet smile', like someone that evil could ever be sweet. "Please Katie-Kat?"

She narrowed her eyes, "what's in it for me?"

"You get to spend time with me of course!" he grinned.

She ignored him, "how about an apology?"

Travis stared at her, "apology," he repeated blankly, as if it were a completely foreign concept, "for what?"

Katie shrugged, "I don't know, maybe for putting hair growth cream in my moisturiser or poisoning my flowers or putting itching powder in my pants or giving me a permanent marker moustache or cutting off some of my hair or pushing me into the lake or..."

"Ok, Katie I get it!" Travis cut her off.

Katie raised her eyebrows, "well?"

He smirked at her, "I am so very sorry Katie-Kat and I can only pray to the Gods that you will find it in your heart to forgive me."

Katie glared at him, "I'm not going to help you unless you take this seriously!"

Travis sighed and looked away for a moment, when he turned back to her his eyes locked on her own, "I'm sorry Katie."

Travis was the same age now as when she had first met him, she remembered when she had first seen his stupid smug little face. She had been sprinting up half-blood hill with a draconae screeching furiously behind her, her father had told her to get to the tree, if she made it to the tree she would be safe. But she knew that she wasn't going to make it to the tree, it was too far and the draconae was too close. That's when she saw him, a scruffy looking boy standing at the top of the hill, holding what looked like a rifle. She had stared at him pleadingly and he had raised the gun, she ducked instinctively, unable to fathom what moron had given this little psychopath a weapon. By this point she had accepted that she was either going to die being eaten by a monster or shot by a deranged 12 year old, but then she heard 5 consecutive bangs and the draconae screamed in rage. She whipped around and saw that the monster's scales were covered in a patchwork of bright colours, red, blue, green, purple. Paint, she had realised, it was a paintball gun. For a moment the draconae was so shocked and disorientated that it seemed to have forgotten all about her, so she took her chance and sprinted the rest of the way up the hill, finally collapsing on the ground next to the boy. Just before she had blacked out he had crouched down beside her and winked at her, "you owe me," he said. Those were the first words he had ever spoken to her and she hoped that maybe after all this was over they would finally be even. Katie realised that she hadn't spoken for a long time and Travis was staring at her, the image of the strawberry fields forced it's way back into her mind and she felt her face grow hot, "fine," she said quickly, "meet me here tomorrow."

**A/N: So I finally figured out how to do a line break, everybody proud of me, yes? Anyway, fancy leaving me a cheeky review? **

**I love reviews almost as much as Annabeth loves Percy! Oh Gods Percabeth feels *fangirls***


	7. FIGHT!

**A/N: Ok, so that last chapter kind of sucked, so I hope you like this one a little better! Oh and I only have one more week of school before we break up for Christmas, so I should be able to update more then! Thanks for all the support, you guys are brilliant!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously I'm a tramp.**

**Chapter 7**

_**Travis POV**_

Travis hadn't exactly lied to Katie... he just hadn't told her the whole truth; he was pretty good at that, one of his many talents. Anyway, it's not like he made it up, he really did need help with his sword fighting, it was getting pretty pitiful and he was terrified of losing his bad-ass reputation. It wasn't as if it was all part of some ingenious, if a little evil, scheme to spend some more time with Katie, no way. Definitely not. Ok, well maybe it was a little; since the whole 'turning into a toddler' thing Travis had come to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, he had some teeny tiny feelings for Katie. He had also realised that since he currently resembled an acne covered dwarf, he would have to use some less conventional methods to try and get the lovely Katie-Kat, he was usually pretty proud of his flirting skills but he figured that given the circumstances he might have to approach the situation a little differently. Travis glanced in the mirror on the way out of the cabin and only cringed a little bit, he was definitely getting older, he was still a few inches shorter than he would have liked and he had a few more pimples than usual, but he wasn't completely horrified by his reflection anymore, just a few more days left, and he would be back to his devastatingly handsome self. He glanced at Connor who was still snoring in his bunk, his blankets were twisted around his body and he was drooling onto his pillow, Travis took a quick picture of his sleeping sibling to torture him with later, he decided that it proved once and for all who was the better-looking brother.

Travis strolled through the camp, smiling to himself as he remembered the previous night, he supposed it could have waited until the morning, but it had been so much more fun that way. No matter how old he was annoying Katie would never stop being his favourite source of entertainment, some people liked to watched TV, some people liked to read, he liked to personally and professionally drive people insane, it was his hobby. Besides, Katie had looked so cute, all sleepy and confused, in her little hello kitty pyjamas, her reaction had been priceless. Travis winked at the naiads as he passed the lake, they giggled and waved back at him and Travis smiled slightly, if the naiads were flirting with him again maybe he was looking slightly older.

Travis arrived at the Demeter cabin and knocked on the door, which was covered in delicate bright wallflowers and had thick green vines stretching across it and wrapping around the door knob. Miranda answered the door, she and Katie didn't look much alike to say they were half sisters; their only similarity was the identical scowls they both wore every time they saw him. Miranda gave him a dirty look, like he was a weed in her flowerbed and she just couldn't wait to grab the weedwhacker, "What do you want Stoll?"

"Good morning to you too Miranda," Travis replied brightly. Miranda rolled her eyes and huffed impatiently, "is Katie there?" he asked.

Miranda arched an eyebrow, "sorry, I can't tell you that," she said, although Travis noted that she didn't look very sorry, "we are under strict instructions not to let you into this cabin under any circumstances."

Travis opened his mouth to protest but at that moment Katie appeared at her sister's shoulder, "it's ok Miranda, you can let him in," she said lightly.

Miranda frowned at her sister, "are you sure?" Katie nodded and lead Travis into the cabin, he had been in the Demeter cabin a bunch of times, just never with permission and when you're sneaking around in the dark setting up pranks you don't really stop to look around. Seeing the cabin in broad daylight there was only one word Travis could think of to describe it: flowers. Lots and lots of flowers. He followed Katie straight through the cabin and out of the backdoor into a large garden which was filled with; yep you guessed it, more flowers. Travis didn't really care about plants or nature or vegetables or any of this junk, but even he could tell that this was impressive. Naturally, he was suddenly overcome with the urge to vandalise it, but he couldn't thanks to the stupid promise he'd made to Katie, which he was already regretting. Katie lead him through the garden, she glanced back and seemed to notice his awed expression because she beamed with pride and flashed him a small smile. She pulled open the door to a small wooden shed in the corner of the garden, partly obscured by branches, and stepped inside. Travis followed her in, it was a weapons shed, similar to the one they had at the Hermes cabin, except the top shelves of this one were lined with boxes of cereal. Katie reached into the back and pulled out two swords, one was long and dangerously sharp, shimmering gold as it caught the rays of sunlight filtering through the wooden planks, but Travis knew better than to hope that one was for him. Katie held out the second sword which was significantly smaller, the dull bronze blade coated in a thick layer of dust, "this is the sword we keep for the younger, less able kids," she smirked, "I thought maybe it might be easier for you to hold."

_Don't rise to it Travis,_ he told himself firmly, "thanks Katie-Kat, it's perfect."He said taking the sword from her and walking back outside.

Katie followed him into the garden and stood in front of him, silhouetted against the blazing sun, wearing her orange camp t-shirt, with her dark hair tumbling carelessly over her shoulders and her sword raised, poised to strike, Travis thought she looked beautiful. He had never thought that before, about anyone, he thought that girls were hot all the time, but not like this.

Katie grinned at him, "lets start out with some simple defensive moves," she said, "so, I'm going to attack you and you have to try and stop me, ok?" Travis nodded, there was no way he was going to let her beat him in a duel. Katie flew at him, her sword raised dangerously, instinctively Travis raised his own sword and there was the unmistakable clang of metal colliding as he deflected the blow. As humiliating as it was to use a kiddie sword, he had to admit that it was easier for him to use. Katie staggered backwards slightly and when she looked up she was grinning, she charged him again. Although Travis would never say it aloud, he had to admit that Katie was a good fighter, in one swift and deadly move she had disarmed him and had her sword pointed at his throat, the cool tip of the blade pressed beneath his Adam's apple. Katie laughed, "Wow, you were right Stoll, you really do suck," she remarked, not moving her sword, "I mean, seriously, I'm embarrassed for you."

Travis smirked and grabbed the handle of her sword, knocking the blade away from his throat; he quickly ducked behind her and wrapped an arm around her neck, pressing her back against his chest, so he had her in head-lock, like he used to do to Connor when they were kids. He bent his head to whisper in her ear, "best out of three?"

Katie snorted, but the sound was muffled by his arm, "Please Stoll, you really think you can beat me? I changed your diapers for Zeus' sake."

He released her and she spun away from him, picking up her sword and grinning at him wickedly, a mad glint in her eyes, Travis grabbed his own sword from the ground, "oh, it's on," he muttered.

_**Katie POV**_

Katie spent the rest of the afternoon fighting with Travis and as much as it pained her to admit it, she had actually had fun. The idea that her and Travis Stoll could ever become friends was completely inconceivable, it was ridiculous, but that wasn't even what worried her, what really troubled her was that even the possibility of friendship, however unlikely it was, didn't seem to satisfy her. She remembered her dream from the night before and the realization came crashing down on her so suddenly she had to sit down; she wanted something more. Was it possible that she could have fallen for her sworn nemesis? She couldn't think what she could have possibly done that would make the fates decide to doom her like this, it was just so unfair. She felt like cursing Aphrodite to Tartarus and back for doing this to her, but she knew that that was probably a bad idea. Katie flopped down on her bed, exhausted and confused, she pressed her face into the pillow and screamed in frustration.

There was a knock on the cabin door and Katie sat up so suddenly that she felt the blood rush to her head, she sat there for a moment until the dizziness subsided and then cautiously approached the door. _Please don't be Travis, please don't be Travis,_ she prayed silently. When she opened the door and saw Rita Marigold standing there, she couldn't help it, something inside of her deflated like a balloon.

"Oh hey Rita, what's up?"

The daughter of Hecate grimaced, "can I come in?"

"Sure," she replied, stepping back inside.

Katie noticed the dark shadows beneath Rita's eyes, she looked harassed and exhausted, "I don't know how to tell you this..." she started nervously.

Katie frowned, "what is it Rita?"

She met Katie's concerned gaze, her green eyes were intense, the permanent marker glasses and scar on her face had faded, but they were still visible if you looked closely, "I'm having a problem with the spell..."she began.

**A/N: Another chapter done, wooo virtual high fives all round! So yeah like it, hate it, review?**

**I love reviews almost as much as the party ponies love to... um party?**


	8. Uh-Oh

**A/N: OH MY GODS! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time, I've just been so busy, I've had about a zillion exams, but no excuses, I am a terrible person! Anyway, this chapter is extra long, so I hope that makes up for it, I promise I'll be faster next time!**

_**Chapter 8**_

"What?" Katie asked, in disbelief. There was an icy feeling in her stomach, a feeling of dread slowly spreading through her bones. If Rita couldn't get the Stolls back to their correct ages then they would have to age naturally and that would take almost 2 years. Katie could not cope with being responsible for them for that long, she wanted her life back.

Rita tugged nervously at the frayed edge of her sleeve and kept her gaze fixed intently on the soft green carpet covering the floor of the Demeter cabin. "I don't know what happened," she began exasperatedly, "the spell was simple enough; it should have been easy!"

Katie stared at her, uncomprehending, "then why can't you do it?"

The daughter of Hecate shifted slightly on her feet and shot an anxious glance over her shoulder, she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think... I think that someone must be blocking the spell."

Katie blinked, "Is that even possible?"

Rita nodded, " Yes, but blocking a spell isn't easy, it must have taken a lot of power and some pretty strong magic."

Katie thought about that for a long moment, she could feel an idea itching at the back of her mind, but whenever she tried to reach for it she felt it evaporate into mist. She tried to think like a child of Athena would, she'd never been great at thinking logically and concentrating, her ADHD took care of that. But then it hit her.

"The kind of power only a God would have," she speculated.

"No," Rita said hurriedly, casting an anxious glance at the sky, "I'm sure that's not it, why would any of the Gods want to do that?" She seemed to take Katie's silence as an accusation because she quickly added, "I'm sure that my mother would never do anything like that, she's not the type to hold grudges!"

Katie's head whirled dizzyingly and she tried to organise her fractured and disjointed thoughts into words. A thousand different questions crowded her brain fighting for importance. "I know, I don't think it was Hecate."

Rita frowned, "Then who?"

Katie shuddered, she had a suspicion, a mortifying thought and all she could do was pray that she was wrong.

_Travis POV_

"Wake up asshat," A voice whispered urgently in Travis' ear.

He blinked slowly, his thoughts and voice both sluggish with sleep, "what?" He murmured.

"It's me Travis, you need to get up!" Katie's voice, he registered dully. Wait _Katie's voice!_

"Gods Katie!" He exclaimed, scrambling upright and clutching his sheet to his chest, "do you have any idea what time it is?"

She frowned at him and glanced at her watch, "Travis, it's almost 10:30."

"Exactly!"

Katie sighed theatrically, "Would you just get up, it's important?"

Travis hesitated. He didn't sleep in pyjamas. Katie arched an eyebrow, "what?"

"Um... could you look away for a second?" Katie snorted, but obediently turned her back as he hastily pulled on his jeans and camp-half blood shirt.

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, which had the unfortunate effect of making him look even younger, "So, may I ask what in Zeus' name, is important enough to wake me up at _10:30?_"

"We need to go to the Aphrodite cabin," she said distastefully.

Travis groaned, usually he enjoyed going to the Aphrodite cabin, but it was too early for all that giggly flirting crap, "why?"

"Because I said so," Katie replied. She was chewing on her lip so hard she drew blood, but she didn't seem to notice. An uneasy feeling settled in Travis' stomach, something was definitely wrong.

Katie turned toward the door, "are you coming or what?"

He followed her apprehensively across the pavilion. She didn't speak. Travis had always hated silence and he had made it his life's mission to fill it. "So are you going to tell me what's going on or do I have to guess?" She didn't answer.

"You're marrying Chiron?"

Nothing.

"and you've decided to name your half-horse child Travis Jr?"

She shot him a poisonous look, but remained silent.

"Oh wait, don't tell me! One of your daffodils has died?" He asked feigning horror.

They reached the door of the Aphrodite cabin which was painted hot pink and covered in love hearts. Katie thumped her fist on the wood three times, almost as if she was deliberately trying to ruin the decorations.

"I know!" He exclaimed, "You're in love with me!"

At that Katie whirled around, with a murderous look in her eyes, "Do you value your life Stoll?" She hissed. Mission accomplished.

The door swung open and Drew stood there, one hand on her hip. She shot Travis a seductive smile and her eyes swept scornfully over Katie's baggy clothes and scruffy ponytail, he saw Katie's jaw clench and he could tell that she was just itching to grab her dagger.

Drew tapped her long red finger nails against the door frame and batted her eyelashes, "Hey Travis," she purred, "What can I do for you?"

"Um..." Travis drew a blank, he didn't know why they were here and Katie wouldn't tell him. He squinted, the sun was too bright and it was too early, his brain didn't usually start working properly until after lunch.

Katie cut him off, "can you contact your mom?"

Drew laughed, "Oh Katie sweetie, I think it's going to take more than that to sort out your love life."

Katie balled her hands into fists and Travis spotted something green slither up from the cracks in the pavement. If Katie didn't calm down, Drew would find herself wrapped in vines and suspended from a tree any second. "Look, can you contact her or not?" He asked, although he still didn't understand why they needed her. What could Aphrodite have to do with anything?

Drew pursed her bright red lips, "Our mother is an important Goddess and she has a very busy schedule, she only appears to us when she wants to, we can't summon her that's not how it works."

Travis leaned forward slightly and flashed Drew a smile that was about as charming as he could muster at this time in the morning, "Come on Drew, there has to be some way."

Drew gave him a sickly sweet smile in return, "well you could always try sending her an Iris message."

Katie immediately turned away and stalked back across the pavilion, having gotten what she wanted and apparently unable to stand another second around Drew.

"Thanks Drew," Travis called behind him, he saw the Drew smile and mouth 'call me' at him, he gulped in terror and jogged to catch up with Katie. He caught her arm and she turned around. "So are you going to tell me what the Hades is going on?" They were the same height now and in a couple of days he would once again be taller than her, thank the Gods.

Katie glared at the floor and refused to meet his eyes, she looked exhausted, "Rita's having a problem with the spell," she told him darkly.

Travis was quiet for a moment as he let that sink in. No. No way. He was still only about 15, that was two years away from his real age and he was not going to wait for a whole two years! No. Not going to happen. He would do whatever it took.

"She said that someone was blocking the spell," Katie explained, she paused, "I think that it's one of the Gods."

"Who? Why would any of the Gods want to mess with us?"

Katie finally looked at him; she raised her eyebrows and gave him a minute to think about it. And then it clicked. "Aphrodite?" He guessed.

She nodded, "bingo."

Travis still didn't understand, "Why would she want to do that?"

Katie smiled slightly and shook her head ruefully, "you know for an evil mastermind, you can be pretty slow sometimes."

Travis frowned and then suddenly it dawned on him. Aphrodite. Oh. _Oh. _Travis smiled despite himself; this was going to be interesting. "So she thinks that you and I are..." He trailed off, his grin spreading even wider, which of course made Katie even angrier.

She shot him a murderous look and snapped, "Well I'm glad you find it funny, but if she keeps this up you're the one who's going to be stuck looking like some stupid little kid."

She stormed back towards her cabin and Travis followed still grinning, "Come on Katie-Kat, even the Goddess Aphrodite herself can see that you're in love with me now, you might as well just admit it."

"I'll admit to that, when Tartarus freezes over," she called over her shoulder.

Travis laughed and Katie glared at him, they were standing outside her cabin now, "you know what? I'm done." She spread her arms wide in an exasperated gesture, "This is your mess and you can clean it up yourself, jackass," she slammed the door in his face.

Travis leaned against the door and pressed his face into the wood, "Katie!" He whined. He got no response, not that he had been expecting one. He sighed and reluctantly strolled back to his cabin, he figured that he would give Katie a chance to calm down, since getting punched in the face was not what he had planned for today and he knew that if he pushed it with her that would be exactly what would happen, and, well he kind of liked his face the way it was. He wasn't sure how he felt about Katie's news, sure it sucked that he was going to have to wait even longer to get back to the right age, but it couldn't hurt to have the Goddess of love in his corner when it came to Katie, he had to admit that he wasn't doing so well on his own. He figured he'd talk to Aphrodite alone and try to get her to turn him back to the right age and maybe ask for a little advice while he was there.

He arrived back at his cabin, which was empty, thank the Gods. He walked through the mountain of litter and dirty clothes and disturbingly food, into the bathroom. The tap was rusty and it shrieked as he turned it and hot water began to slowly fill the sink. He paused for a moment and quickly scanned the small cramped room that was the bathroom of the Hermes cabin. Everything, the bath, the toilet, the sink, was completely covered in a thick layer of grime, cupboard doors dangled precariously, their hinges snapped and rusted away, the dull grey paint was peeling from the walls in large chunks and there was still a sticky patch on the floor from Tuesday's mouth wash incident. But the worst part by far, was the smell. Travis wasn't exactly the most hygienic person in the world, but the smell disgusted even him, to compare it to Hades' gym shorts would be an injustice to Hades. Probably not the most appropriate place to speak to a Goddess, but hey, it was her own fault for screwing around with his life. He created his rainbow and flipped in a drachma that he had stole from some dumb Apollo kid, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering, show me Lady Aphrodite."

**A/N: Not the best chapter, hopefully the next one will be better. Anyway, thanks for reading and if you want to shout at me for not updating or just tell me what you think, please leave a review!**

**Remember I love reviews almost as much as Demeter loves cereal!**


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